Users are increasingly engaging with Websites via mobile channels.
That means law firms must adopt responsive Website designs to accommodate searches from any device.
[source: Centric Digital] In many ways, lawyers are servants of the people — they’re willing to bend in every direction at once to secure a victory for their clients. And as their client base increasingly searches for the best legal help using their smartphones, law firms are going to have to bend in that direction, too.
The law market is more saturated than it’s ever been, and contracts are often won or lost due to first impressions — not in person, mind you, but on a firm’s Website.
As 69% of potential clients use both mobile and PC to search for firms (and 74% will check out a law firm’s Website before making contact of any kind), customers expect a site to be fully optimized for any and all platforms.
ONE SECOND TO IMPRESS
According to NewMediaCampaigns.com, having a responsive Website design is the number-one most important design feature of any law firm’s site. Because firms can count on so many potential clients viewing their sites on their smartphones, they must demonstrate a perceptiveness to this trend and a willingness to cater to those interested parties.
Also very good to know: Google’s mobile search algorithms will more highly prioritize Websites in search results that are optimized for mobile platforms. And once users view a site on their smartphone, a responsive design will allow them to more easily view a firm’s team, cases, areas of expertise, and most importantly, contact information.
And just by doing the little things, like installing a ‘click-to-call’ feature, you move potential customers even closer to a conversion — or to put it literally, one touch away from a first introduction.
And to customers, there are often few differentiating factors between law firms, but a clean, responsive, and tech-savvy Website speaks volumes about a practice’s overall composure, and can mean an immediate win over another firm with a clunky, hard-to-use site.
Indeed, 72% of people who hire an attorney contact just one law firm in advance of their decision; if your Website manages to get a customer to call you up, it’s actually quite likely they will retain you for your services.
DON’T GO IT ALONE
More than ever, law firms need to go digital. And to accomplish this, few are going it alone – instead, they’re partnering with industry leaders in digital transformation to ensure they’re best positioned to convert as many potential clients as possible.
At this juncture, there is no longer a question of whether law firms should transform their digital platforms – the question is when, and to what degree of effectiveness.